As the Church’s global “synod on synodality” continues, groups of bishops and laity are now staging continental-level discussions of the “Working Document for the Continental Stage,” a synthesis document created by a Vatican-appointed working group. The continental stage’s working document – published by the Vatican in October – is meant to be a summary and Read more
In 1817, Lord Byron is said to have challenged an Italian cardinal to a multilingual cursing contest. The English poet reputedly opened the contest by uttering as many different imprecations as he could in the languages he had studied. Byron recalled later that he swore “in all the tongues in which I knew a single Read more
As Lent comes towards its climax in the celebration of Easter, we might revisit the energy of Ash Wednesday and renew our renewal for this final week. This process of making changes in our lives, having a new outlook, repenting, converting, turning over a new leaf — all render the command, metanoeite — that we Read more
I write in support of Imam Gamal Foude’s comments on the need for love and respect in combatting violence. With all due respect to French leaders, I think they could start by reviewing the implications of laïcité. At this time, they have much to say about “Islamic terrorism”. Worse, some of the language they are Read more
An Indian cardinal has said he believes that the sexual orientation of homosexual people might well be given by God. In an interview with The Hindu, Cardinal Oswald Gracias said he knows “there is still research being done whether it’s a matter of choice or matter of orientation and there are two opinions on this matter”. Read more
Dublin’s archbishop has warned Church leaders not to use insensitive and over-judgemental language in debates on marriage and family. Speaking in a Lenten talk in Country Kerry, Archbishop Diarmuid Martin’s warning also extended to those he called the Church’s “self-appointed spokespeople”. “Where the Church argues from general principles, there is inevitably the feeling on the Read more
Momentum is building at the synod on the family for a change in the language the Church uses in its teaching on sexuality. But that doesn’t mean a change in Church doctrine, two leading cardinals have said. “Everybody wants to show God’s love and mercy, but it also brings you to very difficult situations and Read more
A Latin teacher at the seminary I attended described Italian and the other modern Romance languages as “corrupt provincial dialects of Latin”. Pope Francis has decided that the working language of the Extraordinary Synod for the Family being held at the Vatican should not be Latin, but one of those modern descendants, Italian. That decision Read more
The biggest news to come out of the bishops’ synod in Rome so far is the acknowledgement that when it comes to talking about issues of family and sexuality, language matters. Among the examples of “harsh” rhetoric that bishops discussed as doing more harm than good in terms of “inviting people to draw closer to Read more
Two Israeli television channels are trying to see to it that Aramaic, the language spoken by Jesus and his contemporaries in that region of the Roman Empire, will once again become a living language and not just be an almost extinct curiosity for scholars of Semitic languages to study.
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